....really?

I was going to try to extend my big bear classic recollections tonight (although I've probably written about the race for longer than I raced the race.) But a very kind police man gave me a new topic. 

My commute home from work is about two miles long, and all down hill. In the two miles, there are five traffic lights. The lights are incredibly worthless at night, and do nothing except stop the flow of traffic and waste time. The lights really should just be turned off from 9pm to 6am.

On my way home tonight, I pedaled through one red light. I slowed to make sure no cars were coming, (there never are anyway), and went on through. I was under the assumption that cyclists were permitted to treat a red light as a stop sign. Apparently, I was mistaken.

Half a mile later, a police car turns on his lights and shoots in front of me, parking half way on the sidewalk. The officer gets out of his car and shouts "So what, you don't think you have to obey the rules of the road? Think you can just blow through red lights? Is it gona mess up you 'pace' to stop?" I explained to him that I had read it was permissible for a cyclist to use a traffic signal as a stop sign.

"Ohhh that's what ya read did you? Well were'd you read that?"

"I can't remember" I said

"Oh so you can't remember. So which one is it? You can't remember or you read it?"

"I read it somewhere."

"Well were did you read it?"

I told him again that I couldn't remember. The conversation continued like this for at least one more 'where?' 'cant remember.' cycle. He then proceeded to tell me that if I did it again I would be fined $110 and get points on my drivers licence.

That's $110 AND points on my drivers licence. For riding a bike. He then said "And if you want to doubt me, I'll give you the fine and ticket right now." I said I didn't doubt him.

But here's the PA bike code.

Section 3502. Penalty for violation of subchapter.

Any person violating any provision of this subchapter is guilty of a summary offense and shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine of $10.

$10 is a little weee bit less severe. But I was also wrong. A bike is subject to the same rules as a car in PA. Which I think is ridiculous, but I guess I'll have to follow the law until its changed. I just do not think the police man had to be such a dick about it. 

marshmallow fields forever

The feeling of a tire almost rolling off a rim is a curious thing. It feels like the back of the bike turns into a trailer and swings out to the side. Or like the rear wheel just ran into a pit of marshmallows and lost traction.
I felt that twice today. Then I flatted. Again. I am soooo damn sick of tubes.
I rode most of the way to the lady bears house on about 5psi in a 26c tire. That says great things for Soma Everwears. They hold their shape really well without air (much better than say, a larson mimo). And the blue stripe on mine makes them extra fast. (when they do have air, of course.) The whole way I was riding gingerly, hoping that I wouldn't pull the rubber off my rim.
3/4 of the way to her house I remembered carry a Co2 inflator in my bag o' shit. Oi. I hate my forgetfulness sometimes.
After I gassed up the tire I was off again without and problemos. And it was a rather pleasant day.

Yogoga

Holly shite. Yoga is good.

The lady bear has been asking me to go with her to yoga class for a while. But since we are both very busy and important people, we haven't had the time. Until tonight.

We went to a little place called moonglow and took a beginners class. The building is nice, there's a cat, and, well the cat is nice. The actual yoga room is hot as the inside of a pizza oven. I felt like peperoni. It was really really hot. I think the room was something like 85F. Being used to 10F, I felt like passing out for the first part of the session. Next time I'm bringing water, and something to keep my damn hair out of my eyes. I was expecting the yoga to be easy, but I was wrong.

The instructor goes non stop for an hour. There was tons of stretching, some balance, and some challenging (for me! i know right? that's crazy!) core work. At the end of the class my legs felt fantastic. They were really sore and tight before hand, but that hour defiantly fixed them. Yoga is going to have to become part of my weekly routine.